Behind every great movie is a great soundtrack. The music in a movie is an essential part of film that evokes emotions that cinematography just can’t touch.
Movies such as Garden State, Forest Gump and High Fidelity are all examples where music helps to market a movie and give it a quality that stays with us long after we’ve left the theater.
Spike Jonze’s adaption of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are has become one of the biggest movies of the fall season. It’s had critics raving, the audience talking and, most interestingly, people listening.
The soundtrack to Where the Wild Things Are is mostly written and performed by Karen O (lead singer of Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and “the kids.”
Contrary to what the name may infer, “the kids” are the collaboration of members from Deerhunter, Liars and many other notable bands and artists.
Obviously since Where the Wild Things Are was a children’s book, the soundtrack needed to cater to more than one demographic. With an all-star line-up backing Karen O, the soundtrack succeeds on all levels.
The album is as fitting for the movie as pumpkins are for Halloween. Vocals, guitars, and strings cover an assortment of ambiances on this soundtrack.
From rock, to folk and then onto indie, all genres seem to be present. But what really grabs the listener, what really makes this so special, is the emotions that the sounds evoke.
Imagine you are young Max, the protagonist of Where the Wild things Are, and you are embarking on the adventures that take place in the book and movie.
The sound you’re looking for is hard to describe; how do you theme a movie based on imagination?
The Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack propels your musical imagination, on to a journey of song and sound.
It grabs the older audience and makes you feel the inner adventure, imagination, and wildness that have all been dormant in us for so long.
As we trot along in life and tend to our “adult” duties it’s hard to remember the feelings of our youth. Climbing a tree, playing in the backyard and staying up past your bedtime are things of the past.
A movie such as Where the Wild Things Are brings us down a notch and evokes the infancy once found in us all.
It will make you realize the long lost love we all share for freedom, rebellion and most importantly, that special place in our minds called the imagination.
